Who was John Torrington? He was the first member of the Franklin Expedition to die.
Why should anyone care about him? Sit down and I’ll tell you, in a blog series spanning eleven posts and 25,000+ words. Join me on a magical journey as I obsess over a dead Victorian sailor!
Today, January 1, 2022, is the 176th anniversary of John Torrington’s death. Amid all the New Year’s celebrations, I hope some people will take a moment to remember him.
Today is December 10, 2021, which means it’s the 195th anniversary of John Torrington’s baptism.
For the past two years, I’ve shared new research to honor him on this day, but this year I haven’t had a chance to work on anything. However, I don’t want this day to go by without recognizing it. So a very happy Baptism Day to John Torrington!
I wrote an essay about what I learned during my recent Daily Flash Fiction Challenge. It was a fun personal challenge, and I realized I could keep writing even when I thought I had hit empty. I posted the essay over on Vocal, which is where I’ve posted all the stories from the past month. You can read it here.
And I’m done! Thirty-one flash fiction stories in one month. Each one was written and edited in a day. I’ve got some thoughts that I might organize into a longer post later, but for now, here’s the last round of stories.
Story 23: A Haunting
Story 24: Trick or Treat
Story 25: Standing Still
Story 26: The Blank Page
Story 27: Where Have All the Mambos Gone
Story 28: And the Dead Shall Rise, Maybe Around Noonish
Story 29: Carving Pumpkins
Story 30: Stars
Story 31: Halloween
Another week, another round of stories. Just one more week to go!
Story 16: The Return
Story 17: A Light in the Fog
Story 18: The Mirror
Story 19: Bedtime Stories
Story 20: In Between
Story 21: Interrupted
Story 22: Thank You for Calling
Another week, another round of daily stories!
Story 9: Bloom
Story 10: The Doll
Story 11: Perchance to Dream
Story 12: Sweet Music
Story 13: In the Dark
Story 14: Bury a Friend
Story 15: The Rain
Wow! I’m already through the first full week of my Daily Flash Fiction Challenge. I’ve written a story a day for the past eight days, and I’ll be writing another one later today.
Here’s all the stories so far:
Story 1: The Skull in the Garden
Story 2: Old Growth
Story 3: That’s Just What Cats Do
Story 4: The Sound Water Makes
Story 5: Cursed Anonymous
Story 6: Candlelight
Story 7: Harbinger
Story 8: The Castle by the Sea
It’s been a lot of fun so far. Some of the stories have been lightly spooky, a couple have been very dark, and a couple have been comedies. I just hope I don’t run out of ideas before the end of the month!
For this October, I’m trying something new. I’m going to be doing a daily flash fiction challenge, where I write a new flash fiction story every day. Each story will be no more than 1000 words. Since it’s October, and I love Halloween, expect most of the stories to be at least a little spooky.
I’ll be posting the stories over on Vocal. Check in every now and then to see the new stories posted throughout the month. I’ve already written two stories, and I’m working on the third for today. Unfortunately, Vocal moderates everything submitted to be published on their site, and they have been so very slow this weekend. Only one story has been posted so far. I’m hoping they’ll catch up soon. But you can find the first story here. Happy reading!
I wrote a tiny, tiny short story (only 299 words) for Queer Sci Fi’s latest anthology Ink. My story is called “The Unmarked,” and I just found out it’s the first story in the anthology! It’s also one they seem to like using for advertising the collection, based on this promo image they posted on Twitter:
Unfortunately, you have to buy a copy to read the full story, but if you’re interested, here’s a link to where you can buy it. Enjoy!
Hello again!
In some non-Torrington news, I wrote a short story and submitted it to the Little Black Book Challenge on Vocal. I’d never heard of Vocal before, but the challenge offered the chance to win $20,000, so I thought what the hell. The rules for the challenge were that I had to write about someone who somehow comes into $20,000, and at some point there had to be a little black book mentioned somewhere in the story.
Unfortunately, I’d only heard about the contest at the last minute, so I threw my entry together in a day. Still, I’m pretty proud I was able to put together a story that quickly. Based on the title, some people may be thinking that this story has something to do with a certain expedition. Well, sorry no, it’s not about Franklin or his men, but I did borrow several plot points from various real-life Arctic expeditions.
With the way Vocal works, my story is available for everyone to read on the website (and I get paid per read, so even if I don’t win the challenge, I might be able to earn a tiny bit off it–probably only like five cents, but still). You can find the story here. Enjoy!
Lauren Triola Writes 